


Fresh Start

by whalebone



Category: Lost
Genre: F/F, Kissing, Oceanic Six, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29376327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whalebone/pseuds/whalebone
Summary: Cassidy hadn’t expected Kate to actually show up, but there she was, almost exactly as she’d been in her memories.
Relationships: Kate Austen/Cassidy Phillips
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Fresh Start

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kingstoken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingstoken/gifts).



They were calling them ‘The Oceanic Six’. Miraculous survivors of that terrible plane crash that had dogged the news for weeks last year, suddenly found alive and whole.

Cassidy stared at the news report flickering on her old TV, clutching her coffee mug so tightly her fingers began to burn. Clementine tugged at her pant leg, asking for cereal, but Cassidy couldn’t drag her eyes away from the screen. Five people behind a long table, all looking as though they’d rather be anywhere else: a handsome, wary Middle Eastern man; a square-jawed white guy; a steely, quiet Korean woman; a big, nervous man with masses of curly hair… and _Kate goddamn Austen_ , her mouth set, jiggling a baby in her lap. 

Cassidy watched the way Kate's eyes flicked from side to side, as though checking for an escape route, and felt a strange surge of warmth in her chest. She knew that look, sure enough. And she’d missed it, no matter what she’d told herself.

* * *

She hadn’t expected Kate to actually show up, but there she was, almost exactly as she’d been in Cassidy’s memories: sparkling green eyes, freckles across her nose, a hint of wariness in her gaze. Older, sadder. She held the little boy in her arms like a lifeline.

Kate told her about the island, and about Sawyer. Sawyer, that son of a bitch. Cassidy had liked him, liked his smirk and his easy confidence and the sense of danger in him. She’d liked that in Kate, too. Perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised that those two had found each other. 

“How ‘bout a drink?” she asked, once they’d put the kids down for the night, Aaron content in Clementine’s old crib. 

Kate glanced to the front door, her teeth catching briefly on her lower lip. Then she nodded. “Sure.”

“Bet they didn’t have decent alcohol on that island,” Cassidy tried to joke, and a brief smile flashed over Kate’s face.

“The drinks trolley didn’t last too long,” she agreed.

They went out onto the back porch, keeping the door open to hear any sound from the kids. Aaron, it seemed, was a good sleeper. Cassidy supposed he’d gone through more chaos in his few weeks of life than most. Sleeping in a strange house was probably nothing in comparison.

The spring evening was warm, full of the heady scent of magnolias that drifted from the neighbour’s yard. Clementine’s swingset creaked in the gentle breeze. Cassidy poured two glasses of decent whiskey, handing one to Kate as she settled beside her on the porch seat.

“To fresh starts,” she offered, raising her glass.

Kate’s smile was more genuine that time, her face brightening. “To fresh starts,” she agreed, clinking her glass to Cassidy’s before taking a sip. Her expression turned thoughtful. “It’s… it’s good to see you, Cassidy. It really is.”

“It’s good to see you too. And nice to just sit a while, you know? Bit different from the old days.”

“Just a little, yeah.” 

She missed it, sometimes. Cassidy wouldn’t give Clementine up for the world, of course, but sometimes she found herself idly planning some minor, pointless con, desperate for that old rush of adrenaline. Those days with Kate, breathless and fraught, stumbling back to their cheap motel room… 

Cassidy swallowed, feeling very warm all of a sudden. She took a drink to try and hide it.

“You know,” she began slowly, “when that plane went down, and they released the passenger list… I couldn’t believe it. You always got out of things, you know? You always had some escape plan, some way to wriggle out of it. It didn’t seem real, that you could be gone just like that.” She shook her head, smiling. “Guess I should’ve known better, huh?”

Kate looked a little wistful. “I got lucky,” she said simply. “We all did.” She took another sip of her drink. When she lowered her hand, her warm arm brushed against Cassidy’s. She gazed out at the backyard, her face shadowed. “I thought about you, sometimes. Trying to live by our wits on that island, surviving day-to-day, sometimes I’d think… I wish Cassidy was here. She always had my back.” 

“I got your back,” Cassidy murmured. Kate’s arm was still pressed to hers. Cassidy brushed her fingers over Kate’s knuckles. Took her hand. 

“You won’t tell anyone? About Sawyer, or Aaron?”

“Kate.” Cassidy squeezed her fingers and met her eyes. Green as a jungle forest. “Never. I swear to you.”

A breathless moment hung between them. Kate leaned forward, and Cassidy met her halfway. Her mouth was hot, and desperate, the smoke-taste of whiskey lingering on her tongue.

* * *

“You could stay,” Cassidy murmured, her nose pressed to Kate’s hair. The streetlight outside her bedroom threw a bar of light across the bed, turning Kate’s bare skin golden.

She felt Kate tense, wariness snapping back into her limbs. “Maybe.”

“Think about it.” Cassidy’s lips trailed over her brow, her sharp cheekbones, down to her mouth. Kissed her again, again. Kate kissed back, her lithe form relaxing. “You don’t need to run.” _You’re not like him. Goddamn Sawyer._

In the next room, Clementine stirred, and then fell back into quiet sleep. Kate sighed, and leaned her forehead to Cassidy’s. 

“I can stay for a few days,” she said slowly, hesitantly. In the glow from the streetlamp her eyes shone like new leaves. “Does that sound okay?”

Cassidy smiled. “That’s a helluva good start.”


End file.
